Columbia Basin Riverdogs to host Babe Ruth World Series

EPHRATA - The Columbia Basin Riverdogs will be hosting the Babe Ruth League World Series for ages 16-18 in Ephrata this August at Ephrata High School.

While the opposing teams have yet to be announced, the Riverdogs were announced as a host site after going through the application process.

“It's just a really big endeavor to put a World Series on,” Riverdogs General Manager and Head Coach Jason Laugen said, “and this is the fifth World Series I believe that Ephrata has hosted since 2011.”

There is a tournament involved in qualifying for the Babe Ruth World Series, beginning at the district level and advancing through regionals.

“The teams that qualify for the World Series go through a tournament trail process,” Laugen said. “In some places they start off with a district tournament, which qualifies them for their state tournaments. If they win their state tournament, they go to a regional and if they win the regional they qualify for the Babe Ruth World Series.”

State tournaments must be completed by July 17 and regionals by July 27, meaning the competition is about to heat up across the country. Upon completion, the nine other teams will make their way to Ephrata for the 16-18u World Series.

“The regional championships have to be completed by July 27 to give the teams enough time to book their flights and everything to get to the World Series,” Laugen said. “Which only gives them about a week [to get to Ephrata].”

Now deep into the tournament season, the Riverdogs do not know who they’ll be facing off against until the end of the month - only that they’ll be from around the country.

“We will not have any idea which teams specifically will be here until around that July 27 timeframe,” Laugen said. “We do know that they do come from the different regions within the United States.”

A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into hosting a tournament of this kind, Laugen said. A significant amount of money goes towards league dues, concessions, field maintenance and more.

“Going into hosting the World Series is a pretty big endeavor,” Laugen said. “We have to provide and fundraise a lot of money in order to put the World Series on … to bring in concessions to bring in vendors to bring in all sorts of different entities that help make the world series a fun experience for everybody.”

Volunteers are also needed to keep the wheels running during the tournament, ensuring that everything runs smoothly from start to finish. Volunteers are needed for the grounds crew, to run concession stands, monitor scoreboards and more.

“The other thing that we have to do is we have to find volunteers to help work the World Series,” Laugen said, “and that's a pretty big endeavor.”

Laugen said that rather than traditional fundraising, the Riverdogs have sold ad space to local companies during the World Series. This, coupled with private donations and the money raised through standard Riverdog fees, will be a portion of how the World Series is paid for. Laugen noted that the World Series will be a Basin-wide effort.

“I think it shows a lot of support for our local kids, and the local players of the Columbia Basin Riverdogs,” Laugen said of the community support. “The Riverdogs encompass kids from the (cities) of Othello, Ephrata, Moses Lake, Cashmere. Kids on some of our younger teams from Ellensburg, Warden and Quincy. So it's really a Columbia Basin effort. It's not just Ephrata and Moses Lake.”

With teams and fans alike heading to the Basin, Laugen said areas like Ephrata and Moses Lake will likely see increased business.

“With most of the teams being housed in Moses Lake and the hotels over there, a lot of the businesses in Ephrata and Moses Lake [will be] getting some extra flow into their places of business,” Laugen said.

The 16-18u Babe Ruth World Series will be held at Johnson O’Brien Stadium at Ephrata High School from August 4-14. Pool play begins on August 6 and carries on until August 10. The bracket play portion of the tournament will be held from August 11-12, with the championship on August 13.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.